Would I get more overclocking using single channel as opposed to dual channel withNF7

[johnnr892]

Hi, just wondering if I put my ran in single channel and overclocked to 400fsb off pc2700 chips, would I see a performance increase over running them at 186fsb in dual channel. Thanks,John. Also, would single channel help overcloking at all, or am I imagining.

[StormPC]

Possibly, but probably not enough to make up for the performance you would lose.

[johnnr892]

SO you would say it's not worth it, how do I turn it off in the bios by the way so i can see how far they will go without being in dual?

[Rave]

You don't turn it off in bios, you install the memory sticks so they're both on the same channel on the motherboard. Whether or not you get more overclock depends on whether it's the memory, or the memory controller on your board that's your limit. It does no harm to try; dual channel only adds a tiny bit more performance on standard NForce2 boards (it's more use on the IGP boards when onboard graphics are used). If you get, say, and extra 10MHz overclock at the same timings that'd probably perform better overall.

[johnnr892]

Ok, i will give it a go

[johnnr892]

Well, i tried it and couldn't get past 190fsb without errors, not worth it then. thanks anyways.

[8bit]

you really want pc3200 memory sticks to get them running to 200FSB... or if you want to push it further than that, pc3500 or pc4000.

[johnnr892]

yeah, unfortunately when i first built my computer i was a bit noobish and didn't realise that if i bought 3200 i could run it at slower speeds and i wasn't worried about overclocking. Now that i know more, i want speed!! i reckon my 2x512 pc2700 are worth £60 on ebay, then i could get some more overclock frtiendly pc3200 ram and see how far my 2600xp can go (or my NF7)

edit: How far has anybody else got a 2600xp or 2500xp barton which have locked multipliers?

[johnnr892]

How far do you think I could get my NF7 and 2600xp without any major modding 220fsb? because then i could get some cheap pc3500 and not have to worry. Some geil dual channel I have seen under £100 which is what I'm looking at.

[johnnr892]

Yes 500! posts

[Butcher]

I could never get my NF7 much over 200 FSB stably. I had to multiplier up my barton to get much overclock (luckily it was a mobile so unlocked).

[schmunk]

Yes 500! posts

In < 2 months... You get back to your revising, young lad.

[johnnr892]

Yes, i must start now, don't want to fail and then not get a job cleaning at my school for £5.20 an hour

[8bit]

if your cooling is already sorted (i.e. significantly better than stock AMD coolers) I'd suggest getting the PC3500. I find it's the memory which hampers o/cing attempts before the CPU starts getting errors. If the CPU does start erroring out then you up the voltage a notch, this generates more heat hence the cooling.

ideally you should be able to run the RAM as high as it is rated for. I have PC4000 in my athlon64 3500 system. Through a combination of some sums, fiddling with the Hypertransport and CPU multipliers, the FSB speed, a healthy dose of luck and a pinch of judgement I got the ram up from the 800 stock FSB speed to just shy of the 1GHz it's rated for. The cpu and hypertransport are still just about at their stock speeds tho (w00t for independantly settable multis!).

also, if you want my tip, personally i never buy these big brand name RAM units, never buy "matched" pairs and don't specifically bother with heatspreaders, I've had just as good results using cheap, generic, unmatched sticks with no heatspreader as I have with the bigger names (currently using 2x Arianet-branded Kingmax PC4000)

[bouncin]

get some 3500 at least the rams guarateed to 217 fsb then. Also have u tried putting some extra volts through the ram or loosening ur timings a little.

and in answer to your question it depends on the stick of ram u add as single channel as opposed to dual channel.

Did u try to see how far the other stick would go?

[johnnr892]

I have had my RAM upto 3v effectively (2.9) nf7 and had good air over it and pc2700 crucial wouldn't got past 186 which im running now without error however loose I have the timings. If I want to run dual channel, you say don't get a matched pair because they overpriced, just get two separate 512mb sticks which are the same brand and hope for the best.; My crucials were bought 2months apart and they both work in dual channel together so you are prob right. Thanks.